Regulatory compliance for financial services

Get the resources and staff you need to build a more effective compliance monitoring and audit program with Wipfli.

Wipfli’s team combines experience in a variety of compliance positions — including former compliance managers, examiners, lending specialists and BSA officers — and professional certifications to give you peace of mind in your compliance efforts. We have in-depth knowledge of current regulations and the latest trends and changes and apply them to help you meet examiner expectations.

Our approach

We leverage a comprehensive, risk-based audit approach that helps ensure your compliance risks are identified, analyzed and communicated with management so that you can manage ongoing compliance. We also keep you informed, providing your management and board with a comprehensive summary of our findings and actionable recommendations for improvement.

Our CFES services

In addition to our comprehensive compliance services, Wipfli also supports certification against the Coalition for Financial Ecosystem Standards (CFES).

CFES certification provides third-party validation of a fintech’s risk management and compliance capabilities. Certification gives assurance for fintechs and financial institutions that operations are aligned with regulatory expectations.

Wipfli is an official CFES-qualified assessor, meaning our firm can independently certify organizations against CFES and the Standardized Assessment for Risk Management and Compliance (STARC) framework. Our team brings the experience and rigor needed to help fintechs and other organizations navigate the certification process, deliver a clear, objective evaluation of compliance maturity and provide practical guidance for closing gaps.

Fair lending is at the top of all regulatory agencies’ list of concerns. Our extensive insight into your fair lending risks can help you prevent fair lending violations and prepare for examiner review.

Our team can also support you with:

• Fair lending data analysis: With our wide variety of testing options, we can help your organization analyze your lending data electronically, determine any disparities based on a prohibited basis, perform electronic comparative file analysis, identify areas for improvement and develop strategies to improve your compliance.
• Fair lending risk assessment: A Wipfli facilitated fair lending risk assessment will provide insight into any policies, procedures or processes that put you at risk for increased scrutiny of your lending and servicing practices and could threaten your reputation. By identifying your inherent fair lending risks and mitigation steps already in place, you’ll be able to appropriately prioritize fair lending efforts.
• Fair lending risk overview: Wipfli reviews all aspects of lending for any heightened fair lending risks. The review may include policies and procedures, underwriting and pricing processes, employee interviews, training, exceptions, complaints, compensation practices, marketing, loan servicing and collections, and other aspects of the lending function. By identifying fair lending risks, you will be able to develop mitigation steps or change current processes to reduce risks.
• Fair lending redlining risk analysis: Many institutions have found themselves subject to redlining scrutiny after a fair lending exam just from doing business the way they’ve been doing it for years. Wipfli’s redlining risk analysis can help you develop a road map to mitigating redlining risk based on insights into your practices and the geographical areas within which you do business.
• Community Reinvestment Act assessment: Gain confidence in your organization’s Community Reinvestment Act status. Our analyses can help you obtain valuable insight into your assessment area, including graphical and analytical chart support, demographic snapshots of the market and detailed maps of lending activity.
• Section 1071 compliance: Wipfli provides a wide range of support for building compliance processes and training for Section 1071, with packages that can be tailored to fit your organization’s needs. Wipfli’s regulatory compliance professionals can help you build compliant processes and training for Section 1071. We can help you save time with implementation checklists, reference guides and data collection templates, and we can test your data for accuracy and compliance after implementation. We also offer support for your staff with customized training, one-on-one consulting, peer support and our 1071 hotline.

Wipfli’s Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) services bring real-world experience and comprehensive resources to help you ensure that your BSA and AML programs are working effectively.

Our team includes certified anti-money laundering specialists, regulatory compliance managers and fraud professionals with extensive industry experience, giving us in-depth knowledge of your challenges. Whether you need a regulatorily required independent audit, a validation of your automated monitoring system or assistance with onboarding a higher risk client, Wipfli has the experience to help.

Wipfli’s examination programs for registered investment advisers (RIAs) are designed to help ensure your organization meets the requirements of Rule 206(4)-2 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Custody Rule”).

Our examination procedures are based on SEC guidance and updated yearly using a continuous improvement approach so that they’re capable of meeting your changing needs. With our approach, you don’t just get an evaluation of your regulatory compliance — we also help identify potential efficiencies and best-practice recommendations to assist your personnel. And we continue to support your organization outside of scheduled examination procedures, providing timely information on relevant industry changes.

Whether you need quick direction on a compliance question or in-depth insights to broaden your regulatory understanding, Wipfli’s ComplianceHelp subscription can help.

We offer four subscription levels that provide you with access to a range of on-demand compliance support. Our subscribers can:

• Submit questions to your compliance specialists.
• Download materials, including customizable policy templates.
• Access our ComplianceHelpLive webinars.
• Access the ComplianceHelp dashboard containing, regulatory alerts, informational articles and compliance tools.